This invention relates to improvements in mounting large panes of glass, such as the windshields of construction equipment, and in particular, to an assembly for dampening or eliminating the vibration of such large panes of glass.
Construction equipment such as bulldozers, front end loaders, graders and the like, generally have large panes of glass provided at the front end of the operator's cab. During normal operation of the construction equipment, the equipment is often subject to severe vibrations. Such machinery vibrations sometimes excites the large panes of glass located at the front of the operator's cab to amplitudes and frequencies which result in the panes of glass shattering.
Various methods have been proposed in attempting to prevent the shattering of the large panes of glass. One such solution attempted to control the flatness of the glass mounting plane. A second solution involves increasing the stiffness of the glass mounting plane by increasing the structure around the glass panel opening. A third solution involves reducing the area of the glass panel by dividing the panel into two or more smaller, stiffer, panes. Each of the foregoing solutions have inherent deficiencies. For example, controlling the flatness of the glass mounting plane or increasing the stiffness of that plane, involves relatively significant increases in the manufacturing cost for the construction equipment. By utilizing two or more smaller, stiffer panes, the visibility of the operator is reduced by the necessary width of the structure used to unite the two or more panes.
It is an object of this invention to dampen or eliminate vibration of large panels of glass used on construction equipment without interfering with windshield wiper operation or operator's visibility.